Talk to describe effort to recover WWII plane in Sahara

MUKILTEO — The plane was found 70 years after it crashed in the Sahara Desert.

It’s been called a well-preserved piece of aviation history.

On Saturday, Tim Manna of the Royal Air Force Museum is scheduled to talk about his team’s effort to recover the Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk that crashed in Egypt during World War II.

The talk is planned at noon Saturday at the the Historic Flight Foundation, 10719 Bernie Webber Drive, Mukilteo. The presentation is free for members; there is admission for non-members (adults, $12; $10, seniors or military; $8, youths 6-15; and 5 and under are free.)

The plane won’t be on display Saturday. The museum is expected to send it on a tour, but the schedule has not been announced.

According to news reports, the plane crashed in June 1942. It was believed to have been flown by 24-year-old RAF Flight Sgt. Dennis Copping, the son of a dentist from Southend, Essex.

Last year, an oil company worker found the plane in the western Sahara. Manna led a team that recovered the plane, enduring the searing desert heat and other challenges. He’ll talk about that experience.

The Curtiss P-40 was an American single-engine, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground attack aircraft flown by the air forces of 28 nations. When production of the P-40 ceased in November 1944, 13,738 aircraft had been built, according to news stories.

The Historic Flight Foundation was established in 2003 with the intention to collect, restore, and share significant aircraft from the period between the solo Atlantic crossing of Charles Lindbergh and the first test flight of the Boeing 707.